


Cardigan

by squidling



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Car Accident, M/M, Swearing, adding characters and ships as i go along, lowkey love triangle, set in england bc im english n find it funny to think of jihoon goin "bloody hell", uni - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:33:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29967819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squidling/pseuds/squidling
Summary: ...and when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone's bed, you put me on and said I was your favourite.Following a car accident, Jihoon finds it difficult to adjust to his new injuries. Luckily Seungcheol is there to distract him.
Relationships: Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Hong Jisoo | Joshua/Yoon Jeonghan, Jeon Wonwoo/Kim Mingyu
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	Cardigan

**Author's Note:**

> hey hey hey  
> unfortunately i am v bad at starting fics n the first few chapters tend to be shit and short but im like 14 chapters in and it feels like theyre improving as i find the story a bit more, ive proofed this as much as i can but i promise it gets better just stick around for a bit thank u

The final box sat in Jihoon’s new room, and the boy already felt lonely. His three roommates were chattering in the living area, but Jihoon was never good with people. He only knew Jeonghan, his best friend of a few years now. He vaguely knew one of the others, Seokmin, but only through their friend. Chan he didn’t know at all, except for that he was Jeonghan’s little cousin.

Last year had been much worse. He moved in with some people in his year that he only kind of knew then he had been too shy to properly introduce himself and never spoke to them at all. Jihoon wasn’t even sure if they knew his name. Pretending he didn’t care turned out to be tough.

Jihoon looked around his room. It was a nice enough size, especially considering it was on the ground floor. His bed sat in the far left corner, with a window occupying the cream wall beside it. A desk stood opposite the bed, and Jihoon’s laptop already sat on top of it. Boxes were stacked on top of the dresser that filled the remaining space beside the desk, full of his clothes and knick knacks. Jihoon was pleased that his electric keyboard would fit in that space. Maybe he should unpack it now?

A knock on his door interrupted Jihoon’s thoughts. The door slowly opened. Jeonghan smiled.

“Hey,” he greeted, “I wasn’t sure if you were here or not. You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay.”

“Alright. Seokmin brought biscuits, if you want some. Home baked. They’re on the table.”

Jihoon just nodded, unsure of what to say. 

“We’re going out for drinks in a bit,” Jeonghan said, “if you want to join us.”

“You know me better than that.”

“Polite to ask, isn’t it?”

Jihoon nodded. “Cheers, Han. But no thanks.”

The boys went out without him and Jihoon set up his keyboard. He didn’t mind. He lost himself in the music.

Monday came along and Jihoon looked at his schedule with a sigh. One class and two shifts at work. He grabbed his backpack and left without even bothering to brush his hair nor to say goodbye to Chan on the sofa. Chan didn’t think too much of it. He was hungover anyway.

Class made Jihoon want to kill himself. He tapped his pencil on the table as he struggled to focus. A nagging voice in the back of his head told him he was in the wrong class, and it wouldn’t shut up. It had been three years of this. He needed a stable job, Jihoon told himself. This was the way there. He stared at the lecturer with lifeless eyes, only half listening as he took down notes. Psychology was interesting enough. He just found that it was impossible to truly care.

The class finally ended and Jihoon took his time grabbing his things and packing them away. He always took forever. He didn’t mean to. He just liked his backpack looking neat. When Jihoon finally looked up, a girl stood before him. Jihoon jumped and she giggled.

“You’re really cute,” she said boldly.

“Th-thank you?”

“Would you like to grab coffee sometime?”

Jihoon blinked obliviously. “Alright.”

The girl set a time and place which Jihoon absentmindedly agreed to. He scribbled it on his hand so that he wouldn't forget. She let him go with a sweet smile. Jihoon was just confused.

Jihoon had two jobs and a shift at each today. It wasn’t just to keep up with food and rent, but for his musical hobbies. They could get expensive. One job was playing at a restaurant on the other side of town. He played delicate piano pieces whilst people ate dinner or had drinks at the bar. Otherwise he was at the corner shop just down the road. Once a week he did a night shift. He had worked at these places during term time since his first year now. The boss of the corner shop was pretty fond of him. She was a middle aged woman who always said Jihoon reminded her of her son who was apparently around his age, so she liked to give him free candy or a free drink sometimes and constantly talked about needing to plump him up. On the other hand, the restaurant owner looked down on him. That was okay though, because Jihoon hated the snobby bastard anyway.

Jihoon went home for lunch and a nap and then walked to the store. Mrs Kim, his boss, was outside feeding treats to a stray cat. She saw Jihoon and beamed.

“Hi, Mrs Kim,” Jihoon smiled.

“Hiya, love! How are we today? Back at class yet?”

“Good, thanks. And yeah, had my first this morning.”

She asked how it went and then asked how his summer was before letting him go. She also told him there was a cold coca cola on the counter for him.

Jihoon swapped over with the only girl behind the till (it was a very small store) and opened the drink. It was warm outside so Jihoon needed it. He was grateful for the whirring fan.

Mrs Kim came in before long and brought Jihoon into more jolly chit chat before disappearing through the back door. The place was her home - there was a garden behind it and a flat upstairs. He had been invited up once or twice for hot chocolate when he arrived too early on cold days. She told him tales of her late husband and her children, of course. These types of people usually annoyed him but Jihoon was fond of her.

A gang of twelve year old boys swung by and Jihoon raised an eyebrow at them. They, just like every other group of kids who came in, scoffed at him and asked if he was a bit young to be working in here. Jihoon told them he could drive so he could run them over if he wanted to. He could not drive.

“I’ll tell your boss you spoke to me like that.”

Jihoon shrugged absentmindedly. “She loves me. You’d lose.”

The boys left with their fizzy drinks without much other word.

The next customer was one of his roommates. Jihoon went red. He wasn’t particularly embarrassed about his job. He just despised seeing people he knew. It felt awkward.

“Oh, hi, Jihoon!”

“Hey, Seokmin.”

“It’s Chan.”

Jihoon put his head in his hands and apologised.

“It’s okay! I’m not good with names either. And we’ve never spoken properly before so I’ll let you off.”

Jihoon could only nod. He watched Chan scan the aisles and then come to the counter with a few quick meal things. Jihoon refused to make eye contact as he put them through. 

After work, Jihoon had two hours to walk home, shower, doll himself up in a suit and walk to the restaurant. He liked to get ready as soon as he got home so that he could relax for an hour before. Jeonghan gave the boy an amused look.

“Got a date?” He asked.

“Work.”

Jihoon adored Jeonghan - platonically, of course. They had met in Jihoon’s first year after sitting together once in the busy library and hitting it off. Jeonghan took Jihoon under his wing, realising very quickly that the boy needed it. Jihoon was timid by nature and tried to keep out of the way. It was like he constantly assumed that he was being an inconvenience. He needed someone to nudge him along a little bit, and to be there for him. Jihoon didn’t really have anyone else.

Jihoon left at half past seven, so that he could arrive a bit before eight. The piano was waiting for him as he walked in. He nodded at the boss, put his backpack in the cloakroom and sat down. He stretched his hands out to warm them up and began to play.

Nobody ever took any notice of him. People in their posh dresses and fancy hairdos were busy talking about their privately educated kids or their expensive cars, where to go for a wedding dress, where to go for brunch next Tuesday, where to find a private solicitor for their failing marriage. They clinked their glasses and chortled over bad jokes, blind to all around them.

Jihoon didn’t pay attention to them either. He didn’t feel as though he was there to please them - he was there to earn money for what he loved: music. His fingers danced along the keys and Jihoon zoned out. It was kind of like therapy. The restaurant was hell but the melodies were beautiful. There was nothing Jihoon loved more than playing music.


End file.
